South Korea has discovered trace amounts of melamine, the culprit of China’s milk scandal, in milk products from New Zealand.
The South Korean Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday that a New Zealand substance used in baby formula has tested positive for melamine.
New Zealand’s Tatua Cooperative Diary Company manufactured the additive, lactoferrin. South Korea has also banned the company’s other products pending tests.
As lactoferrin makes up less than 0.1 percent in the final baby formula products, melamine did not show up when 19 baby formula products were tested.
Tatua has ceased all exports with the substance and is tracing the melamine’s origins.
The Chief Executive Paul McGilvary tried to downplay fears: "There’s quite a lot of sensitivity around melamine even at low levels."
He emphasized that there were fewer than four parts per million of melamine in Tatua’s product, and no contamination was found in its milk supply.